Shadow's Light
by Izabelle Alizabe
Summary: After the major battle against Orochimaru, Naruto and Jiraiya are presumed dead, and everyone including Sasuke are crushed. Now it's five years later, and the truth comes out. SasuNaru


PROLOUGE

"Sasuke! Get out of here! The fight is over and he isn't coming back! We need to get out of here before the rest of Akatsuki get here." The speaker started walking away, but turned back to the broken boy when he didn't follow.

"Sasuke, please! We don't have enough strength to fight against anyone else. Not without _them_! We can't lose everyone in one day! Let's go!" This time when the speaker turned, Sasuke followed, leaving behind a titanic crater, completely devoid of life. Sasuke looked up at the speaker.

His older brother, Itachi, hadn't changed much since the last time they had met around two years ago. He looked more stressed and too old for his age, but lying to and spying on a powerful S-class ninja group of crazy shinobi does that to a man.

"Itachi. What happened?!" A mob of people, including Sakura and Kakashi, converged on the pair as they ran through the forest, back towards Konohagakure. Itachi and Sasuke ignored them as they ran, trying to get away from the clearing and the crater.

Throughout the rest of the journey back home, not a word was said. The two Uchiha's in the front, setting a grueling pace for those behind, were conversing quietly to each other. Presumably about the massive explosion of chakra everyone within a two-mile radius had felt.

It had been terrifying, yet familiar to all present, though none could tell where they recognized it from. Then, it had just disappeared and there had been a massive explosion, knocking everyone on their asses. A while after the explosion, the two prodigies had returned and hadn't said a word about it, though Sasuke looked…lost, for lack of a better word.

And Naruto and Jiraiya hadn't been with them. They hadn't returned. That could only mean one thing, though they didn't want to dwell on that possibility. Naruto wasn't one to just die, and neither was Jiraiya. But if they weren't here…

The group of wounded and tired shinobi staggered into the village gates three hours later, missing 2/3's of the original group. The Hokage, Tsunade, rushed out to see who was missing and who had survived. When she saw her two boys weren't in the returning group, she broke down, right there in front of the entire village.

After she pulled herself together, Tsunade set about getting the wounded in to the hospital for healing, and she also asked for a list of names of all those who had perished. She engraved the names of everyone's fallen comrades on the KIA stone herself, pausing once or twice when she came upon a particularly familiar name.

The entire village attended the mass memorial service for all the shinobi, with a special placing for Uzumaki Naruto, who Tsunade had named her heir. The builders would start on his image on the Hokage Monument as soon as mourning was over with.

After the mourning time was over, Tsunade had to reinstate Uchiha Itachi into the shinobi books, making him start over back at pre-genin. He hadn't complained, especially when Sasuke was in the same predicament from defecting to Orochimaru. They ended up in the same class and became bitter rivals, though they kept their brotherly ties that were stronger than any other tie between brothers because of all the hardships of both of their lives.

Itachi had gotten married about a year after he joined Akatsuki, and now he had two kids, a 2 year old boy who looked just like Itachi only with a softer look about him, and a 9-month old baby girl who had Itachi's eyes but her mother's complexion and hair color. Itachi and his wife, Orihime, along with the children, helped brighten up the abandoned Uchiha residence.

Sasuke opted not to live with the happy little family and lived in an apartment with Sakura and Kakashi, though the three of them were never home at the same time. Apparently it would take a while to rebuild their teamwork and friendships of the past. At least he didn't have to deal with fan girls. It would seem that defecting to an evil traitor to gain power was a major turnoff for most women.

Throughout the next year, the original rookie nine and everyone else from that group, advanced through the shinobi ranks. Now almost all of them were Jounin or higher. Sasuke and Itachi were now rival ANBU captains, while Sakura and Ino were rival Medic-nins.

Through the years, everyone matured and grew closer. Sakura and Lee finally hit it off and got married and Ino had a secret boyfriend that she wouldn't tell anyone about. Itachi's children grew older, the girl already showing signs of the Sharingan at a very young age, where the boy seemed to be a late bloomer.

And all through the happiness of the five years after the death of the leader of Akatsuki, Sasuke suffered with the loss of his one and only precious person. The sun to his moon. The light to his shadow.

He suffered alone, not wanting to bring anyone else down with him because he knew, at the bottom of his heart, that without his dobe he would die. It was that simple. So he distanced himself from everyone so they wouldn't feel the pain of his passing.

But his mind played traitor and caused hope to stir, and flutter to life. Hope of something he could never have. The hope of a life with his blonde dobe, his sun, his light. And though he didn't want the hope, he kept it alive, nurturing it, against his better judgment.

And, throughout those five years, a young kitsune prince was born and trained, with the help of his two father's and his sensei. He had to be ready for when the time came. And that time was approaching fast…


End file.
